Make Decent Coffee

We've always had great experiences with anything with either of the words Tanzania or Kilmanjaro on it - they're always fruity and refreshing and eminently gluggable. But this one also claims to give you a creamy mouth feel and not having had the benefit of a public school education we're not sure that's something we want to be party to. Still - nothing ventured, nothing gained, so we dive in anyway. As a Tanzania coffee this one is slightly disappointing - it hasn't quite got the zesty tang we were hoping for, but then it never claimed to have that in the blurb on the packet. We certainly got no blueberry nor apple - and probably would never want to either. It's nice enough and would recommend it on taste alone - but there's a slight fly in the ointment. This stuff is bloody expensive - it's currently £6.50 a bag! Sorry guys - we can't justify that. It would have been an 8, but it's down a point to 7/10 for the sheer cost.

The beans of this coffee are huge and so pale and dusty they look like they've been sitting around since the war. So for the first cup we ramped it straight up to five spoons as it just looked like it needed it, but it still ended up just too weak. So for the second round we spooned up to six spoons - and that's a lot of coffee for just two cups. At that level it delivered - but that's the limit. It was just starting to have the metallic taste you get when you try and push a coffee too far. They do go on about a lemon acidity - but we didn't really get that - its a much more standard coffee flavour than the blurb on the packet suggests. Still - it's a good-un and we wolfed it down in a couple of days. the same problem exists though as for other coffees from these guys: cost. This stuff is currently £5.49 a bag - which is just way too expensive and takes its down a point from a solid 8 to a 7/10.

We love a "lemony" coffee here in the Judge's Kitchen - so were excited to try this Ethiopian Sidamo coffee that we knew would probably deliver. JE-SUUUS this thing is packed to the gunnels with lemons - you just won't believe it until you try it yourself. As soon as the water hits the grounds you'd be forgiven for thinking you were brewing up a flask of Lemsip. It foams nicely in the caffetiere and the head lasts right down through the cup too. It just look... lush.  If you can get hold of some of this stuff and feed it to your non-coffee loving friends it might just turn them - as it proves that all coffees are really not the same. Some are totally unique - like this one. If anything its just a bit TOO unique - so we're giving it 9/10 - just a point off for having one too many lemons.